Forget 2 degrees of warming, Hawking says “460″. Oh, look, there goes another attention-seeking celebrity scientist — flaming out –watch the arc: In the second episode of his new series “Stephen Hawking’s Favorite Places,” the British physicist warns Earth could soon become as hot as Venus if action to halt climate change is not taken immediately. Now temperatures on Venus reach 250°C with powerful 300mph winds. Hawking says a greenhouse effect burned the planet’s oceans and lands, and that something similar could happen right here on Earth if climate change continues unabated. “Next time you meet a climate-change denier, tell them to take a trip to Venus; I will pay the fare,” says the physicist in his show. Sadly, Hawking is an atmosphere-denier. Venus’s atmosphere is ninety times denser than the Earths. The lapse rate* just goes on and on through 60 kilometers of “air” and Venus ends up with a 467 degree surface, just like Earth would if it had an atmosphere this thick. When Hawking yells “Venus”, I yell back “Mars”. Both have atmospheres of 95% CO2, but one is 467 degrees and the other is minus 40. Hawking may say “but the Martian atmosphere is thin”. I […]Rating: 7.7/10 (3 votes cast)